Drum Roll, Please

Chapter 3: New Acquaintances

Summer's thoughts had been revolving around Miko all weekend. The Japanese girl was the only friend Summer had made in years and she was determined not to screw it up.

Arriving at school on time, Summer looked around desperately for the familiar pink-tipped shoots that Miko called style. Unfortunately, class came too fast and Summer cursed herself for not creating a plan to meet up on Saturday.

As she took her seat, Summer's thoughts drifted to more worrisome ideas. What if Miko decided that Summer would embarrass her in front of her other friends? Miko said she had a lot of friends. What if she just decided that she didn't like Summer at all and decided to ghost her? What if Miko got in a car accident and died? What if—

Summer squeaked quietly in surprise as a hand materialized in front of her face. A boy was wildly waving in front of her, trying to get her attention.

"Wow, you're somehing." He huffed before gesturing to her desk. "If you hadn't noticed, our teacher just gave us an assignment."

Summer blinked a few times before looking down and noticing a paper.

"Oh."

He snorted. "Yeah, 'oh', now come on."

"Come on?"

The boy frowned. "Were you paying any attention?"

Summer's face turned red. "Maybe?"

"Whatever. We've been grouped." He explained. "You and I have to work on this as partners. Are you any good at this?"

Summer looked down at the paper. She just moved from another state, so it probably wasn't the same stuff she'd been working on before. Luckily, she realized that she'd already been taught this.

"Yeah." Summer nodded. "I learned this last year, though, so I might be a little rusty."

"Okay." He grinned. "I can work with that."

Summer smiled and wrote down her name. She took a moment to glance at his paper and read his name as well.

"So, how do you want to go about this?" He asked.

"Um, I don't know."

The boy shrugged. "Okay, then we do this my way. You do all your problems. I'll do all of mine. When we're done, we can double check with each other."

"Sounds good to me." Summer picked up her penicl.

He kept looking at her. "Hey, uh, your name is Summer right?"

Summer nodded. "Yup. You're Vince?"

"Vince Raider." He grinned. "And it's a pleasure to work with you."

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Summer had a good day, all in all. Most of her classes were with the boy from her math class, Vince Raider. He stuck around her and Summer was incredibly relieved.

Also a little shocked that she'd made two friends, plus accomplices with other friends that Vince introduced her to. She couldn't wait to tell her guardians about it.

Summer left the school building with a skip in her step, feeling extra joyous. A bright pink splash of color caught her attention and suddenly Miko was running toward her. The Japanese girl wrapped her arms around Summer and squeezed tightly.

"Yay, I found you!" Miko grinned. "Any chance you have a ride?"

"A ride... Yeah. Of course." Summer pointed to her guardians' car. "Why?"